How long should the battery last?
Your pitching machine has a rechargeable battery that can be charged up to 700 times depending on the nature of the care given to the battery, similar to a car battery. We have many machines that are more than 5 years old with their original batteries. If the battery is left in a low charge condition for a period of time the battery will no longer take a charge and your pitching machine will slow down or stop all together.
To achieve maximum battery life it is recommended that the battery never be left in a low charge condition. It not harmful to the battery to run the pitching machine until you are out of power, but it is extremely important to overall battery life to give it a good over night charge within a few days of full battery discharge. If you store your machine for an extended period of time (2 months or more) your must fully charge the battery (8-16 hours) before storage. Also, to maximize battery life, you should give the machine a full charge about every 2 months, again, similar to a car battery.
Caution: Only use the charger provided with your machine. Always store indoors, never exposed to weather.
How do I take care of the battery?
If the battery is left in a low charge condition for a period of time the battery will no longer take a charge and your pitching machine will slow down or stop all together. To achieve maximum battery life it is recommended that the battery never be left in a low charge condition. It not harmful to the battery to run the pitching machine until you are out of power, but it is extremely important to overall battery life to give it a good over night charge within two days after a full battery discharge. If you store your machine for an extended period of time (2 months or more) you must fully charge the battery (8 - 16 hours) before storage. Also, to maximize battery life, you should give the machine a full charge about every 2 months, again, similar to a car battery.
How do I replace the battery?
If your batteries are no longer taking a charge, it could be a bad charger, probably the first thing to check. If the batteries are left in a low charged condition for a period of time, they will no longer take a charge, similar to a car battery. The only way to get your machine back in operation is to replace the battery or batteries. Because we have no control over the nature of the battery care taken, we do not warranty batteries. If it is a 4-hour machine it will have one battery, if it is a 8-hour machine it will have 2 batteries. The battery used is a standard 6 volt SLA. The battery has a custom wire and connector attached to work on our machine. If you wish to replace them yourself it does require taking the machine mostly apart since the batteries are at the bottom of the machine. Some customers choose to return the machine to us for replacement, others do it themselves. You can purchase replacement batteries in our Accessories section, both self-service and ship to the factory options exist. Other options include converting the machine to AC plug-in wall or external battery pack.
What are the charger specs?
We use a charger that produces 7 volts DC at 700 ma, Output connector is 2.5mm x 5.5mm female center positive. These chargers are custom made to our specs. It will be difficult to find this charger exactly to these specs. You can use a 6 volt DC charger in a pinch (any ma current but must be center pin positive). It will not fully charge the battery so you may experience a machine that does not pitch up to full speed.


